[2] Auto-PEEP is an incomplete expiration prior to the initiation of the next breath causes progressive air trapping (hyperinflation).
[3] When auto-PEEP persists despite management of its underlying cause, applied PEEP may be helpful if the patient has an expiratory flow limitation (obstruction).
A small amount of applied PEEP (4 to 5 cmH2O) is used in most mechanically ventilated patients to mitigate end-expiratory alveolar collapse.
[7] Positive end-expiratory pressure can contribute to: John Scott Inkster, an English anaesthetist and physician, is credited with discovering PEEP.
[11] When his discovery was published in the proceedings of the World Congress of Anaesthesia in 1968, Inkster called it Residual Positive Pressure.